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tfU    Rresilcien^    of- 

iRk   N\C  railroad. 


Wfje  Htfcrarp 

of  the 

Hmtoersrttp  of  Jgortfj  Carolina 


Gftje  Cameron  Collection 

3n  JWemotp  of 

JSenneJan  Cameron 

September  9, 1854  -  Shine  1, 1925 

trustee  of  tfte  Unibersitp  of  Jlortti  Carolina 
C*    r-,.^  *-    .  1891=1925 

NS?pS 

ONI  

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on  the 


irsoigpioijiB£) 


B  e  r  r  fe '"  a  n  C am  er o  n 


COMMUNICATION 

FROM  THE 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  N.  CAROLINA  RAILROAD 

IN  REPLY  TO  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  CHAIRMAN 

OF  THE  JOINT  COMMITTEE  ON  THE  NORTH- 
CAROLINA    RAILROAD. 


Raleigh,  February  14th,  1859. 
Hon.  Henry  T.  Clark,  Speaker  of  the  Senate  : 

Sir  : — It  is  with  extreme  reluctance  that  I  propose  agal._  to 
trouble  the  Senate  with  a  communication  referring  to  my  of- 
ficial relations  with  the  North-Carolina  Railroad,  but  it  is  re- 
quired by  my  position  towards  the  Directory,  the  State,  and 
the  stockholders,  as  well  as  due  to  myself,  in  justice,  that  I 
should  notice  a  report  lately  made  by  Mr.  Jonathan  Worth, 
chairman  of  a  committee  to  examine  into  the  affairs  and  con- 
dition of  this  corporation. 

Early  in  the  month  of  December  last,  Mr.  Worth  proposed 
in  the  Senate  a  Resolution  to  appoint  a  committee  to  examine 
into  the  condition  and  affairs  of  the  North-Carolina  Railroad 
Company,  upon  which  (as  amended  to  include  other  roads) 
a  joint  committee  was  raised,  and  Mr.  Worth  was  made  chair- 
man. 

The  first  notification  to  me  of  its  existence  and  purpose  was 
by  a  letter  from  the  chairman  of  date  of  December  18th,  and 
received  the  22d  ;  wh'ch.  letter,  with  my  reply  thereto,  is  given 
in  his  report. 


I 


According  to  the  request  of  this  letter,  I  conveyed  to  Ra- 
leigh from  the  office  of  the  North-Carolina  Railroad,  at  the 
Company  shops,  all  the  important  vouchers,  papers  and  booka 
of  the  corporation,  and  caused  the  Treasurer  and  the  Secre- 
tary to  present  themselves  with  me  in  attendance  on  the  com- 
mittee in  Raleigh  at  the  hour  designated— 4  o'clock,  P.  M.,  of 
January  4th  last.  Then  and  there  I  stated  to  the  chairman 
my  readiness  to  go  into  this  examination  and  reiterated  the 
expressions  of  my  letter— that  it  would  give  me  great  pleasure 
to  aid  him  by  any  means  in  my  power. 

At  7  o'clock  the  chairman  and  Mr.  Mills  attended  at  my 
temporary  office  in  Raleigh— -not  at  the  Governor's  office,which 
he  proposed  to  use  as  his  committee  room — where  the 
papers  were  deposited,  and  remained  in  conversation  perhaps 
two  hours.  Upon  my  inquiry  as  to  his  plan  of  examination, 
and  my  remark  that  any  examination  to  be  satisfactory,  much 
less  just,  must  be  systematic  and  regular  as  well  as  full ;  he  re- 
plied this  was  true,  and  they  would  consult  on  apian  for  adop- 
tion. He  further  observed,  seeing  the  formidable  mass  of 
mafrwial',  that  it  would  appear  impossible  to  examine  as  fully 
as  Wk$  desirable,  but  he  wished  to  make  a  fair  and  impartial 
examination.  My  reply  was,  If  this  is  your  sincere  purpose, 
although  great  injustice  and  much  misapprehension  might  re- 
sult from  a  discursive  and  partial  inquiry,  and  although  it  had 
been  my  intention  to  require  a  regular  and  complete  inquiry, 
I  will  allow  you  to  proceed  in  any  mode  of  just  examination  ; 
here  are  all  the  papers  for  your  use,  and  the  men  to  explain 
them — proceed  as  you  please. 

I  mentioned  that  the  time,  being  the  first  days  of  the  year, 
was  a  very  inconvenient  and  inopportune  one  for  this  exami- 
nation, and  would  greatly  hinder  the  business  of  the  road,  un- 
less the  office-men  could  have  some  leisure  from  it ;  that  as  to 
myself,  I  could  not  possibly  remain  in  personal  attendance 
there,  being  engaged  elsewhere,  but  if  my  attendance  was  at 
any  time  desired,  it  should  be  instantly  given  on  my  being 
notified ;  that  any  questions  for  information  would  reach  me 
promptly,  and  should  be  instantly  replied  to,  no  matter  what 
were  my  engagets.men 

t>      & 


From  that  night  to  the  close  of  this  examination,  when  the 
men  and  books  were  discharged,  no  single  question  has  been  at 
any  time  ashed  of  me. 

The  chairman  begins  rather  ominously  with  two  mistakes. 
He  says,  page  1,  "  he  (I)  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  com- 
mittee the  papers,"  &c.  He  greatly  mistook  my  action.  I 
made  no  such  "  delivery,"  nor  should  I  at  any  time  have  so 
far  forgotten  my  duty,  in  charge  of  these  most  valuable  re- 
cords, as  to  have  "  delivered"  them,  or  even  surrendered  them 
to  any  hands.  He  asked  my  permission  to  take  to  his  room 
certain  papers  and  the  Journal  of  the  Board,  which  I  freely  ac- 
corded (at  the  same  time  requesting  their  careful  keeping,) 
out  of  courtesy  to  his  position — a  courtesy,  as  appeared  later, 
which  the  chairman  was  not  able  to  appreciate.  This  was  his 
first  error  : — the  second  was  that  he  seems  to  have  considered 
all  of  us  in  his  custody.  He  says,  on  my  statement,  "  the 
committee  consented  that  he  attend  to  his  duties  on  the  road, 
he  agreeing  to  return,"  &c.  I  neither  asked  his  u  consent"  to 
be  absent,  nor  "agreed"  to  return  ;  but  made  the  observations 
as  to  my  duties  and  attendance,  exactly  as  mentioned  by  me 
above.  The  chairman  exaggerated  his  consequence  in  this 
way  throughout. 

These  are  unimportant  things  except  as  showing  his  total 
misapprehension  of  our  relative  positions,  and  particularly  of 
his  proper  jurisdiction. 

On  the  second  week  of  the  Chairman's  labors,  I  was  closely 
engaged  in  making  out  my  Report  of  January  20th,  to  the 
Governor,  for  the  information  of  the  General  Assembly — 
and  was  obliged  to  have  the  aid  of  the  Secretary,  who  is 
book-keeper,  in  making  up  my  financial  statement.  The 
Chairman  dwells  on  this  as  having  delayed  his  examination. 
How?  By  lack  of  my  Books  of  Entry?  What  had  he  to  do 
with  these,  except  for  final  comparison  to  ascertain  their  cor- 
rectness?— Was  he  to  examine  the  affairs  of  the  Road,  by 
my  statements  ?  or  was  he  to  ascertain  the  same  by  reference 
to  the  audited  vouchers  of  payments — the  acknowledged 
amount  of  receipts,  and  then  test  the  correctness  of  my 
books?    The  Secretary  has  no  connection  with  these  papers 


except  as  book-keeper,  but  the  Chairman  had  in  Raleigh,  the 
man  through  whose  hands  had  passed  every  voucher  since 
the  first  year  of  the  corporate  operations — the  Treasurer, 
who  had  received  and  paid  out  all  monies,  as  his  accounts 
show,  who  ought  to  be  familiar  with  every  important  trans- 
action, and  able  to  lay  his  hands  on  any  desired  information, 
if  he  chose  to  do  so.  How  then  could  his  progress  be  delayed 
for  want  of  the  Secretary,  no  great  while  engaged  in  the 
office,  and  therefore  not  cognizant  of  old  transactions? 

On  Saturday,  I  went  to  Raleigh  to  pay  my  respects  to  the 
Chairman,  and  asked  how  he  was  progressing.  He  answered, 
that  they  had  needed  the  Secretary  with  his  books,  and  by 
his  absence,  had  been  delayed.  I  replied :  The  Secretary 
has  been  necessarily  absent  in  giving  me  some  aid  from  his 
statements,  but  you  have  had  all  the  papers  and  the  presence 
of  the  Treasurer,  the  oldest  officer  on  the  Road,  which  I 
thought  surely  sufficient;  the  Secretary,  however,  shall  return 
on  Monday. 

After  leaving  the  city  in  the  evening,  I  remembered  an 
extract  from  the  Journal  of  the  Board,  (that  as  to  the  location 
of  Shops)  wanted  for  my  Report,  and  directed  the  Secre- 
tary to  get  the  Book  and  send  it  up  by  next  train. 

On  Monday  I  received  the  letter  following  from  the  Chair- 
man : 

Raleigh,  January  loth,  1859. 
Me.  Chas.  F.  Fishek  : 

Dear  Sir :  The  committee  investigating  the  affairs  of  the 
jS"orth-Carolina  Railroad  Co.,  instruct  me  to  say  to  you,  that 
they  have  been  arrested  in  the. discharge- of  their  duty  all  this 
week,  by  the  non-attendance  of  your  book-keeper,  who  should 
have  been  here  all  the  week  with  his  books,  according  to  the 
orders  of  this  committee. 

The  committee  require  that  your  book-keeper,  with  his 
books,  attend  this  committee  without  delay,  and  also,  that  the 
person  having  charge  of  your  shop  books,  attend  with  his 
books  by  4  o'clock  P.  M.  on  Tuesday  next. 


The  committee  also  instruct  me  to  ask  for  your  personal  at- 
tendance before  them  by  4  P.  M.  on  Wednesday  next. 
Yours  respectfully, 

J.  WORTH,  Chairman. 

Sunday,  January  16th,  1859. 
Mr.  West  has  presented  to  me  your  secretary's  note,  asking 
for  the   book   containing  the  proceedings  of  the  Board,  to 
be  sent  to  Salisbury.     I  decline  to  send  it. 

J.  WORTH. 

In  reply  to  this  I  wrote  to  one  of  the  committee  (explaining 
the  letter  would  be  laid  before  the  body,)  as  follows : 

Salisbury,  January  18th,  1859. 

Dear  Sir: — I  received  on  yesterday  morning  the  enclosed 
letter  from  Mr.  Worth,  Chairman  of  your  Committee.  It 
would  seem  from  this,  that  I  have  been,  much  to  my  surprise, 
greatly  misapprehended  b}r  Mr.  Worth,  and  my  object  in 
writing  this  is  to  ask  whether  such  has  been  the  case  with  the 
other  members  of  the  committee. 

When  Mr.  Worth  wrote  to  me  first,  as  your  Chairman,  I 
replied  to  his  letter  on  the  instant,  assuring  him  of  my  cordial 
aid  in  your  labors.  I  hastened  to  deliver,  according  to  his 
request,  the  material  of  the  office  for  your  examination,  and 
also  placed  at  the  service  of  the  committee,  the  officers  who 
could  explain  these  papers  and  books,  and  also  made  a  tender 
of  my  own  assistance  when  desired.  The  Treasurer  and  Sec- 
retary were  in  Raleigh  till  Saturday  evening  the  first  week. 
I  went  there  from  home,  twice  in  the  week,  being  present 
altogether,  three  days.  Last  week  the  Secretary,  who  is  the 
only  man  in  the  office  having  charge  of  its  daily  work,  was 
obliged  to  see  a  little  to  his  regular  duties,  and  later,  I  found 
his  aid  indispensable  to  enable  me  to  perfect  the  financial  and 
statistical  tables  of  my  report.  The  Treasurer  meanwhile,  was 
there  in  attendance  on  your  committee,  and  he  is  surely  able 
to  give  you  any  information  desired — his  personal  knowledSa 
of  the  business  extending  back  to  the  beginning,  while  the 
Secretary  has  been  in  office  but  a  short  time. 


I  was  engaged  on  the  road  during  the  week  and  could  not 
go  to  Raleigh  till  Saturday  morning,  when  I  heard,  much  to 
my  astonishment,  that  your  chairman  had  proposed  in  the 
Senate  a  resolution  to  authorize  the  sending  for  persons  and 
papers,  thereby  intimating  what  was  far  from  the  fact,  that 
there  existed  any  difficulty  in  obtaining  either  or  both.  Up- 
on this  follows  the  letter  enclosed,  which  in  tone  and  charac- 
ter seem  to  me  to  lack  both  courtesy  and  good  temper. 

I  have  given  Mr.  Worth  no  reason  to  address  me  in  this 
way,  but  on  the  contrary  had  considered  myself  to  have  ob- 
served an  extreme  measure  of  liberality  and  respect  towards 
him.  He  moved  in  the  Senate  an  investigation,  without  war- 
rant of  law  in  his  opinion,  and  I  should  have  been  entirely  right 
in  requiring  it,  at  any  rate,  to  be  made  in  the  most  full  and 
complete  manner  if  made  at  all.  But,  I  have  allowed  a  de- 
sultory enquiry  to  proceed  without  plan  or  order — such  as 
might  do  the  Road  prejudice,  and  could  result  in  no  full  un- 
derstanding of  its  history  awl  condition,  for  the  reason  that  I 
well  knew  what  the  committee  at  once  perceived — the  impos- 
sibility of  what  the  chairman  had  proposed. 

It  would  have  given  me  great  satisfaction  to  have  remained 
in  Raleigh  in  attendance  on  every  meeting  of  your  body,  but 
I  am  sure,  a  moment's  reflection  would  satisfy  any  one  of  the 
impossibility  of  my  doing  so.  A  railroad  is  always  in  need 
of  the  vigilant  personal  attention  of  whoever  is  in  charge,  but 
specially  so  in  the  first  days  of  the  year,  when  everything  has 
to  be  re-arranged  promptly,  or  highly  dangerous  confusion 
results. 

It  is  quite  impossible  I  could  have  neglected  to  attend  your 
body  ;  my  respect  for  gentlemen  composing  it,  as  well  as  my 
self-respect  would  have  forbidden  this. 

Another  hindrance  has  occurred  to  me,  too,  just  at  this 
juncture,  in  the  labor  of  making  up  a  report,  in  detail,  for  the 
use  of  this  Legislature.  I  could  make  no  progress  in  it  before 
the  accounts  of  the  first  six  months  were  closed  early  in  Janu- 
ary, and  so  all  these  heavy  engagements  have  fallen  together. 

I  write  this  to  explain  to  you,  for  the  information  of  the 
committee,  how  I  have  been  occupied ;  and  to   express   my 


regret  that  your  chairman  seems  to  have  fallen  into  his  mis- 
apprehension in  respect  to  my  absence  and  that  of  the  secre- 
tary, and  that  he  has  so  entirely  misconceived  my  desire  to  do 
whatever  could  promote  your  enquiry. 

Very  respectfully,  vour  obedient  servant, 

CHAS.  F.  FISHEK. 
E.  D.  Dkake,  Esq. 

On  Saturday  the  chairman  had  proposed  in  the  Senate  a 
Resolution  to  authorize  him  to  send  for  persons  and  papers 
and  to  examine  under  oath. 

During  the  next  week,  I  was  wholly  occupied  in  urgent  en- 
gagements, and  in  revising  my  Report.  The  Monday  follow- 
ing I  went  to  Raleigh,  and  enquired  as  to  the  committee  and 
its  proceedings,  the  chairman  having  given  a  written  dis- 
charge on  the  22d,  to  all  in  attendance.  Seeing  one  of  the 
committee  in  the  House,  I  begged  he  would  do  me  the  favor 
to  ask  the  chairman  when  and  where  I  could  again  see  the 
committee.  He  saw  the  chairman  and  stated  to  me  in  reply 
from  him,  that  I  could  only  make  any  "explanation"  I  desired 
to  make,  in  writing — whereupon  I  addressed  the  chairman 
this  note : 

Raleigh,  "Wednesday,  Jan.  26,  1859. 

Jonathan  "Worth,  Esq., 

ffir : — On  Monday  I  came  here  for  the  purpose  of  attend- 
ing a  meeting  of  your  Committee.  Being  unable  to  hear 
anything  of  your  time  and  place  of  meeting,  I  to  day  request- 
ed Mr.  Green  to  do  me  the  favor  to  enquire  when  and  where 
I  could  again  see  the  Committee. 

He  mentioned  to  me  this  evening  that  he  had  stated  to  you 
my  desire  to  see  the  Committee,  and  your  reply  in  substance 
was,  -that  if  I  desired  to  make  any  explanation,  it  could  be 
made  in  writing,  and  that  you  did  not  propose  to  hold  any 
further  meeting  of  the  Committee.  As  my  engagements  and 
duties  are  too  pressing  to  allow  me  to  waste  time  in  unneces- 
sary delays  here,  I  write  this  to  enquire  from  you  whether 


8 

I  am  to  understand  that  you  decline  to  give  me  the  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  the  Committee  again,  and  I  state,  that  I  have 
nothing  of  what  is  understood  by  the  term  "explanation"  to 
make,  but  I  have  to  say,  what  in  my  opinion,  the  Committee 
should  hear. 

Respectfully  &c. 

CHAS.  F:  FISHER. 

On  "Wednesday  the  chairman  assembled  the  committee, 
and  being  informed  by  one  of  its  members  of  the  time  and 
place,  I  presented  myself  and  enquired  whether  I  was  to  be 
admitted.  Being  invited  to  do  so,  I  appeared  before  the  com- 
mittee and  found  all  present,  one  of  the  few  times  this  had 
been  the  case.  After  stating  to  the  committee  my  views  of 
the  extraordinary  course  adopted  by  the  chairman  in  this 
whole  proceeding,  and  mentioning  why,  on  account  of  pres- 
sing engagements  of  importance,  much  to  my  regret,  I  had 
been  unable  to  be  personally  present  with  them  more,  T  con- 
cluded by  saying  that  I  had  not  allowed  the  papers  and  books 
to  be  yet  removed,  and  unless  then  notified  of  their  discharge 
they  should  still  remain  there.  After  some  conversation, 
being  about  to  retire,  I  said — if  I  am  now  to  understand  that 
you  decline  to  make  any  further  explanation,  I  will  not  trou- 
ble the  committee  again,  but  shall  send  my  papers  and  book, 
where  they  belong  and  are  much  needed.  The  chairmen 
and  gentlemen  of  the  committee  observed  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  recommence  the  enquiry.  I  then  retired  and 
have  not  since  seen  the  committee. 

The  night  of  the  31st  January,  the  secretary  handed. to  me 
the  following  letter  to  him  from  the  chairman : 

Raleigh,  January  26th,  1859. 
Me.  R.  W.  Mills  : 

Dear  Sir :  The  committee  on  the  affairs  of  the  North-Caro- 
lina Railroad,  all  the  members  of  the  committee  being  pres- 
ent, unanimously  direct  me  to  ask  you  to  furnish  them  with  a 
detailed  statement  of  the  debts  due  to  the  North-Carolina 
Railroad  Co.,  specifying  the  name  of  the  individual  or  corpo- 


9 

ration  owing  each  debt.  Also  a  list  of  the  debts  owing  by 
the  corporation,  specifying  to  whom  and  when  each  debt  is 
due,  bringing  up  this  statement  to  the  same  period -to  which 
these  accounts  were  brought  in  Mr.  Fisher's  report  to  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  of  the  20th  inst. 

We  wish  this  statement  on,  or  before  Monday  next. 
Yours  respectfully, 

JONATHAN  WORTH,  Chm'n. 

To  which  this  was  my  reply  . — 

January  31st,  IS 59. 
Jonathan  Worth,  Esq.,  Chairman  : 

Sir  :  Last  night,  Mr.  Mills,  Secretary,  handed  to  me  your 
letter  to  him,  asking  for  a  "detailed  statement  of  the  debts 
due  to  the  N.  C.  R.  R.  Co.,"  as  given  in  my  report  to  the 
Governor. 

You  was  appointed  as  chairman  of  a  committee,  (raised  up- 
on your  own  proposition)  to  conduct  this  examination.  You 
have  had  all  the  papers,  books,  and  men  of  the  office,  as  well 
as  of  the  board,  at  your  service  and  call,  since  the  4th  inst., 
the  day  of  your  requisition.  I  offered  you  my  aid  in  the  be- 
ginning, and  repeatedly  since.  You  have  never  yet  proposed 
to  me  one  enquiry  for  information /  although,  as  in  this  case, 
asking  from  my  subordinates  of  matters  of  which  I  could  have 
best  informed  you. 

I  have  made  to  his  Excellency,  the  Governor,  a,  Report  for 
the  information  of  the  Legislature,  not  for  the  purpose  of  af- 
fording to  you  matter  for  your  report ;  because  it  was  your 
manifest  duty  to  obtain  all  this  from  your  own  full  investiga- 
tions. You  gave  a  written  formal  discharge  to  the  office-men, 
their  papers,  and  books,  on  the  22cl  inst.  I  have  last  week 
stated  to  your  committee,  my  conviction,  that  this  discharge 
was  prematnre  ;  because  the  examination  was  imperfect;  and 
that  not  accepting  it.  I  should  hold  them  still  subject  to  your 
use.  I  now  say  here,  that  if  you  desire  to  turn  your  attention 
from  an  examination  of  the  condition  and  affairs  of  the  com- 
pany, to  a  direct  enquiry  as  to  the  statements  of  my  report,  I 


10 

again,  for  the  third  time,  tender  to  your  use  all  my  papers, 
and  books — my  own  aid — and  that  of  the  office  corps,  to  be- 
gin, taking  my  report  as  a  basis  of  examination,  and  see 
whether  or  not  it  is  correct. 

I  am,  &c,  CHAS.  F.  FISHER. 

The  next  day  the  chairman  addressed  me  this  : — 

Raleigh,  February  1st,  1859. 
Charles  F.  Fishek,  Esq.  . 

Dear  Sir  : — The  committee  investigating  the  affairs  of  the 
North  Carolina  Railroad  Company  instruct  me  to  say  to  you, 
the  treasurer  of  the  company,  Mr.  Mendenhall,  and  Mr.  Mills, 
the  book-keeper,  to  appear  before  them  at  your  office,  in 
Raleigh,  at  4  o'clock,  p  m.,  on  Thursday  next,  then  and  there 
to  exhibit  to  us  a  detailed  statement  of  the  debts  due  to  the 
North  Carolina  Railroad  Company,  specifying  the  name  of 
the  individual  or  corporation  owing  each  debt,  and  produc- 
ing the  evidence  of  such  debt ;  also  a  list  of  the  debts  which 
the  company  owe,  and  to  whom  each  debt  is  due,  bringing 
up  these  statements  to  the  same  period  to  which  these  ac- 
counts were  brought,  in  your  report  to  the  Governor,  of  the 
20th  January,  1859. 

We  further  wish  to  be  furnished,  at  the  same  time,  with  a 
list  of  all  the  debts  of  said  company,  contracted  prior  to  the 
13th  of  July,  1855,  and  which  have  been  paid  since  the  1st  of 
December,  1856,  the  existence  of  which  was  not  known  to 
you  at  the  latter  date,  with  the  warrants  under  which  said 
payments  were  made. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

JONATHAN  WORTH,  CKn. 

P.  S.  If  the  statements  cannot  be  made  ready  by  the  time 
specified,  please  have  the  books  and  papers  here,  from  which 
they  can  be  made  out. 

To  this  my  reply  was  : — 


11 


Office  North-Carolina  Railroad  Co., 

Company's  Shops,  Feb.  2,  1858. 

Jonathan  Worth,  Esq.,  Chairman : 

Sir:  I  received  this  morning,  just  at  my  starting  from 
Raleigh,  your  letter  of  yesterday.  In  my  last  note  to  you,  in 
reply  to  your  commication  to  the  Secretary  asking  for  state- 
ments in  reference  to  my  report,  I  said  that  I  again  tendered 
to  your  use  all  my  papers  and  books  as  well  as  all  possible  aid 
to  enable  yon  to  begin  and  make  a  full  examination,  as  you 
first  proposed. 

No  doubt  you  are  aware  that  your  proceedings  in  January, 
must,  of  necessity,  have  interrupted  greatly  the  whole  busi- 
ness of  the  office  and  of  the  road  throughout  this  month.  This 
was  a  serious  hindrance  at  a  season  always  the  most  busy, 
and  one  which  it  will  require  some  time  to  amend. 

Although  yoi\  formally  discharged  the  men  and  papers, 
and  dismissed  them  from  further  use,  to  be  returned  to  the 
office.  I  have  tendered  them  to  your  use,  and  still  hold  the 
vouchers  and  papers  subject  to  your  examination  ;  but  before 
removing  the  contents  of  the  office  again  to  Raleigh,  (a  labor 
and  trouble  as  you  know,  of  no  small  degree,)  I  desire  to 
have  your  assurance  that  your  next  proceedings  shall  be  up- 
on a  plan  of  examination — full,  regular,  and  thorough,  such 
as  has  not  been  yet  adopted  by  you.  This  can  only  be  made 
by  taking  each  warrant  and  transaction  from  the  beginning. 
Such  an  enquiry  as  was  understood  to  be  proposed  by  your 
resolution  in  the  Senate.  This  and  this  only  would  do  justice 
to  my  predecessor,  the  chief  engineer,  and  myself. 

If  this  is  your  purpose  now,  I  will  at  once,  again  pack  up 
the  office  contents  and  take  them  down  to  Raleigh.  Other- 
wise, I  shall  decline  to  recarry  them  from  their  proper  place, 
where  they  are  constantly  required  for  use  and  reference. 

Ai  to  the  statements  and  lists  enumerated  in  your  letter, 
I  have  given  in  my  report  such  as  was  deemed  necessary. 
Your  examination  if  it  had  been  fully  made,  would  have  furn- 
ished all  of  these  in  detail,  and  any  examination  hereafter 
may  do  so.      I  shall   give  in   the  next  annual  report  to  the 


12 

stockholders   a   moro  detailed   statement  of  old  debts  paid, 
from  each  warrant. 

My  engagements  are  not  such  as  to  allow  me  to  give  you 
such  an  one  now,  even  if  I  considered  it  necessary  and  pro- 
per to  do  so.  Respectfully,  &c, 

CIIAS.  F.  FISHER. 

This  closed  the  correspondence  of  the  chairman  and  myself 
not  much,  I  dare  say,  to  the  .regret  of  either. 

I  must  here  correct  another  little  mistake  in  his  report.  He 
does  not  furnish  my  last  letter  above,  but  says  : 

"At  the  time  appointed  having  received  no  answer  from 
Mr.  Fisher,  three  members  of  the  committee  attended  at  the 
place  appointed,  when  Mr.  Fisher  told  one  of  them,  Dr.  Mills, 
that  he  refused  any  further  investigation  on  the  subject.  Being 
satisfied  that  we  should  be  unable  to  report  before  the  end  of 
the  session,  if  we  took  the  steps  necessary  to  coerce  the  atten- 
dance of  the  President  and  book-keeper,  we  resolved  to  report 
the  facts  we  had  obtained." 

Here  is  a  statement  positively  not  correct.  I  did  not  tell 
Mr.  Mills  "that  I  refused  any  further  investigation  on  the 
subject ;"  but  I  replied  t .»  an  inquiry  of  Mr.  Mills,  that  I  had 
written  and  sent  to  the  chairman  what  I  had  to  say,  which  was 
that  I  should  decline  to  re  convey  the  office  to  Raleigh,  ex- 
cept on  the  condition  mentioned  in  my  letter. 

The  chairman  talks  about  "steps  necessary  to  coerce  the  at- 
tendance ef  the  president,  &c,"  which  he  very  well  knows  is 
nonsense,  but  which  may  do  to  impress  some  as  to  his  conse- 
quence. 

This  statement  furnishes,  according  to  my  best  recollection, 
a  correct  and  full  account  of  what  has  occurred  between  the 
chairman  and  myself.  It  is  a  dull  detail,  but  necessary  to  a 
proper  understanding.  I  turn  now  to  the  report  of  the  chair- 
man, which  he,  with  great  candor,  calls  the  result  of  an  u  im- 
perfect enquiry." 

This  document  is  so  very  long,  that,  warned  by  its  exam- 
ple, I  shall  endeavor  to  make  my  review  of  it  as  brief  as  pos- 
sible ;  and  I  pledge  myself  to  show  that  he  has  mis-stated, 


13 

whether  ignorantly  or  intentionally  let  the  facts  show,  every 
transaction  and  every  statement  which  he  makes. 

The  contract- of  John  G.  McRae  &  Co.  is  his  first  subject. 
This  was  a  work  of  considerable  extent,  reaching  from  Golds- 
boro'  to  six  miles  above  Raleigh — fifty-six  miles  of  road,  the 
earliest  begun  and  in  active  prosecution  for  some  three  years 
or  longer,  entirely  during  the  administration  of  ray  predecessor. 

The  chairman  finds  nothing  worthy  of  comment,  and  noth- 
ing whatever  to  censure  in  the  period  of  years  during  its 
whole  progress  up  to  the  close,  when  he  actually  proceeds  to 
make  me  responsible  for  the  whole  character  of  the  work,  Ms 
first  notice  being  of  the  transaction  lohich  closed  it,  and  upon 
which  I  happened  to  ham  a  part  in  the  Board.  The  brief 
facts  as  to  this  settlement  are  a  very  plain  tale  :  After  the  con- 
clusion of  work,  repeated  applications  were  made  to  t*ie  Board 
by  the  contractor  for  a  final  settlement.  !STot  once  or  twice, 
but  many  times,  it  had  been  represented  to  the  Board,  as  no 
doubt  every  member  of  that  day  can  attest,  the  difficulty  of 
effecting  this  settlement,  because  there  was  no  personal  inter, 
course  between  President,  Chief  Engineer  and  contractors. — 
The  board  seeing  no  other  mode  of  settlement,  appointed  a 
committee,  as  was  their  duty,  to  enquire  into  the  facts  and 
report  how  to  effect  what  otherwise  seemed  likely  to  remain 
undone.  This  committee  very  reluctantly  undertook  the 
work,  and  proceeded  to  do,  what  the  chairman  who  censures 
their  act,  has  not  done,  to  examine  with  labor,  for  days,  the 
whole  account  of  the  contractors,  and  to  consult  with  the 
President,  Chief  and  assistant  engineers,  so  as  if  possible  to 
adjust  properly  a  very  difficult  matter.  They  reported  at  last 
the  terms  of  a  settlement,  and  no  dissenting  voice  disapproved 
these  terms,  so  that  briefly  it  was  thus  : 

A  large  contract  exists,  involving  an  amount  of  $550,301  18, 
it  was  concluded  finally,  and  the  contractors  claim  a  balance  ; 
the  administrative  authorities  are  not  on  settling  terms  with 
these  men,  who  refuse  to  surrender  the  road  up,  or  to  make 
concessions  upon  their  demands,  deemed  by  them  just.  What 
next  ?  The  authorities  to  whom  it  properly  belonged  to  settle 
the  matter,  state- to  the  board  their  inability  to  do  so.     The 


u 

suggestion  is  made,  as  a  final  resort,  that  a  committee  of  the 
Board  see  what  is  best  to  be  done:  they  unwillingly  undertake 
the  labor,  trouble,  and  vexation  of  reviewing  this  long  trans- 
action, but  finally  as  a  matter,  equally  of  duty  and  of  necessi- 
ty, consent  to  do  so;  examine  accounts  as  a  court  of  reference, 
consult  all  parties  fully  and  freely,  and  finally  recommend  a 
basis  of  settlement,  not  satisfactory  to  the  contractors,  but 
unanimously  approved  by  the  authorities  an  I  Board,  making 
no  gratuitous  allowance,  but  an  equitable  settlement.  For 
this  they  are  arraigned  and  censured  five  years  afterwards  by 
the  chairman  who  does  not  pretend  to  have  investigated  this 
contract  to  see  whether  its  transactions  were  right  as  a  whole, 
including  the  settlement,  out  who  takes  the  closing  act,  in 
which  alone  he  finds  my  name  and  co-operation. 

"  Comment  upon  this,  "  as  he  says,  "  is  unnecessary.  " 

As  regards  the  statements  of  Col.  Gwjmn's  letter,  I  have 
only  to  say,  the  recollection  of  the  chairman,  Judge  Saunders, 
of  Mr.  Dortch  and  myself,  (Maj.  Band  I  have  not  seen)  is 
very  clear,  that  our  consultations  with  the  chief  engineer  and 
assistant  engineer,  were  frequent;  and  although  they  failed  to 
"  recommend  "  any  terms,  and  declined  to  do  so,  much  to  our 
increased  trouble  and  embarrassment,  they  did  willingly  ac- 
quiesce in  our  recommendation,  as  the  best  for  closing  a  vex- 
ed matter.  Our  opinion  was,  I  very  distinctly  recollect,  that 
they  were  very  glad  to  get  clear  of  the  matter  on  these  terms 
so  easily  and  so  cheaply.  As  to  the  contract,  its  execution  or 
terms,  I  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it.  Mr.  McBae  was 
in  Baleigh,  and  offered  to  give  the  chairman  any  information 
he  wished,  some  weeks  ago,  as  I  informed  the  chairman. 

The  contractors  allege  that  they  can  show  the  work  of  their 
construction  to  have  cost  the  company  less,  (throwing  in  all 
additional  cost  of  repairs,  so  particularly  mentioned  in  this  re- 
port) than  any  part  of  the  line,  for  the  chief  reason  that  their 
purchase  of  iron  was  the  most  fortunately  timed  of  any  other. 

The  next  count  in  the  chairmans  bill  of  indictment  against 
me,  is  as  to  the  wood  contracts. 

This  may  be  briefly  despatched.  All  wood  contracts  of 
1855  and  '56  as  well  as  previously,  were  made  by  the  Engi- 


15 

neering  corps  who  were  in  charge  of  construction  and  of  trans- 
portation at  each  end.  The  Chief  Engineer  directed  and  con- 
trolled this..  As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  understand  the 
condition  of  things  along  the  line  of  223  miles,  I  stopped  all  con- 
tracting for  wood,  except  at  such  points  as  were  deficient  in  sup- 
ply— and  also  more  than  this,  I  fixed  the  rates  at  $1,25  per  cord, 
where  formerly  $1 ,50  was  paid.  One  thing,  however,  I  did  do 
which  the  chairman  may  censure.  I  found  many  cases  where 
large  contracts  had  been  promised,  but  no  written  agreement 
made  at  the  time.  In  all  such  cases  where  the  persons  had  pre- 
pared to  do  the  work  on  the  faith  of  these  promises,  I  ordered 
contracts  to  be  executed.  It  may  be  gratifying  to  the  chairman 
to  hear  now,  what  he  might  have  learned  on  enquiry  from 
me  sooner — that  very  little  loss  has  resulted  from  the  laro-e 
supply  of  wood,  beyond  the  inconvenient,  expense  of  payino- 
for  it,  except  in  the  interest  on  the  amount.  It  was  generally 
of  excellent  quality.  Whether  good  or  bad,  however,  the 
chairman  cannot  exactly  fix  it  upon  me,  as  he  attempts  to  do. 

His  next  count,  is  for  right  of  way  to  Mr.  Andrews  in 
Raleigh.  The  memory  of  the  Treasurer  has  been  somewhat 
defective  as  to  this  transaction.  It  is  not  true  as  stated  that 
the  deed  of  relinquishment  signed  by  Andrews  is  in  my  pos- 
session— it  ought  to  be  in  its  proper  place,  but  it  is  true,  that 
Andrews  signed  a  deed  for  right  of  way  through  one  lot. 
Nobody  ought  to  know  better  than  the  Treasurer,  however 
that  the  payment  to  him  was  for  an  entirely  different  piece  of 
land.  The  facts  are,  as  to  this,  that  the  Chief  Engineer  by 
my  consent,  agreed  with  Andrews  on  a  commission  to  assess 
damages — the  assessment  was  regularly  made  and  afterwards 
of  necessity  paid  by  us.  The  former  President  or  the  Trea- 
surer could  have  informed  the  chairman,  if  he  had  enquired 
whether  high  assessments  at  Raleigh  or  elsewhere,  were  unu- 
sual, and  what  difficulties  invariably  attended  such  proceedin  o-g. 

The  case  of  Gen.  Trollinger  at  Haw  River — is  next. 


16 

This  was  an  act  of  the  Board,  deemed  by  them  just  and 
right,  of  the  propriety  of  which,  as  the  chairman  has  enquired 
into  no  connecting  circumstance  or  reason,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  saying,  he  is  wholly  incapable  of  judging  justly  and  truly. 
He  speaks  with  manifest  ignorance  and  prejudice.  In  proof 
of  which,  I  take  one  single  sentence — he  says,  "  your  commit- 
tee learn  the  water  is  of  no  value,  being  only  two  miles  from 
Graham  and  four  from  the  Shops."  Judge  of  his  capability 
to  enquire  and  pronounce,  when  I  state  a  fact  well  known  to 
the  Board,  and  to  all  men  on  the  Road,  except  perhaps  the  Trea- 
surer, or  he  would  have  mentioned  it  to  the  chairman,  that 
this  worthless  water  has,  during  the  dry  summers,  been  our 
chief  dependence  for  20  miles  of  Road  next  to  it  for  the  run- 
ning of  all  our  Trains ! — without  it  we  must  have  stopped  work 
or  provided  other  supplies,  as  the  expensive  station  wells 
totally  failed.     In  this  way  it  has  paid  far  above  its  cost  to  us. 

Next  is  the  chairman's  section  on  the  Express  Train  which 
is  really  so  absurd  throughout,  and  displays  such  unmitigated 
ignorance  of  the  subject,  that  I  cannot  undertake  to  mend  its 
blunders  or  correct  the  mis-statements — but  will  give  a  brief 
account  of  this  service,  without  reference  to  his  statements. 

This  second  service  of  passenger  trains  was  commenced  in 
March  of  1S57.  The  reasons  which  caused  the  Board  to  put 
it  in  operation,  were  these  : 

The  mail  train  left  Charlotte  early  in  the  morning,  and  pass-  ' 
ed  through  the  line  by  day  to  Goldsboro'  in  the  evening.  The 
mail  train  of  the  Charlotte  and  South-Carolina  Railroad,  our 
southern  connection,  arrived  at  Charlotte  in  the  afternoon. 
As  a  consequence,  passengers  coming  through  were  detained 
from  4  or  5  o'clock  P.  M.  to  6  o'clock  A.  M.,  more  t\v.  n  12 
hours  at  Charlotte,  going  north.  The  same  was  the  case  when 
our  train  reaches  Charlotte  in  the  evening,  and  the  passengers 
had  to  wait  until  8  o'clock  next  morning,  or  more  than  12 
hours,  going  south.  This  caused  very  great  dissatisfaction, 
and.  as  much  complaint  against  the  board  as  the  chair- 
man makes,  if  possible,  but  it  could  not  be  remedied. 
We  offered  to  divide  the  night  running  with  the  Charlotte 
and  South  Carolina  Road,  but  they  were  unwilling  to  subject 


17 

their  people  along  the  line  to  this  inconvenience  to  way  travel. 
We  had  the  same  difficulty,  and  finally,  after  much  consulta- 
tion, both  Boards  agreed  to  put  on  an  additional  service — the 
Express  Train-— as  the  only  possible  means  of  accommodating 
the  conflicting  demands  of  through  and  way  travel.  Last 
spring  we  concluded  it  was  best  to  make  the  most  of  this  se- 
cond train  by  running  it  on  through  connections  of  time  with 
the  South-Carolina  Road,  and  the  northern  trains  at  Weldon 
by  way  of  the  Raleigh  &  Gaston  Road.  This  running  with 
through  connections  perfect,  we  entered  upon  on  the  7th  of 
April  last,  and  continued  to  the  early  part  of  January — as  my 
Report  states,  when,  considering  the  proportion  of  time  al- 
lowed me  less  than  it  ought  to  be,  and  not  thinking  it  good 
policy  to  make  this  speed,  while  the  unusual  winter  was  so 
hard  on  the  road,  and  might  endanger  the  trains,  I  reduced 
the  speed  for  a  time. 

This  explains  the  service  of  the  Express  Train,  its  policy 
and  necessity,  we  had  either  to  run  one  day  train  connecting 
no  where  by  12  hours,  or  to  run  altogether  at  night,  or  to  put 
on  this  Express  service. 

As  to  its  additional  cost,  the  chairman  chose  to  enquire  of 
the  office  men,  and  master  mechanic  rather  than  of  myself. 
This  was  of  course  to  make  cut,  if  possible,  that  my  state- 
ments, concerning  it  were  incorrect. 

These  are  the  facts : — For  the  service  of  one  train  only, 
there  is  required  an  equipment  of  seven  engines — four  mail— 
and  twelve  passenger  coaches,  for  both  trains  we  use  ten  en- 
gines and  fourteen  passenger  coaches,  with  three  baggage 
cars.  The  actual  additional  expenditure  per  month  for  the 
second  train,  does  not  exceed  my  statement  of  figures,  which 
he  refers  to.  The  statement  he  gives,  as  that  of  the  master 
mechanic,  was  never  given  by  him  as  its  cost,  but  is  the  chair- 
man's own  account  made  up  from  separate  questions  to  the 
master  mechanic.  The  chairman  cannot  comprehend,  and 
this  is  not  his  fault,  how  should  he,  that  two  trains  on  a  road 
are  not  obliged  to  cost  the  double  of  one  train,  for  the  reason 
that  the  two  services  united,  may  be  operated  more  economi- 
2 


18 


cally  and  with  a  smaller  equipment  for  both,  than  relatively 
for  one. 

His  estimates  and  comparisons  as  to  the  passenger  traffic 
are,  in  the  same  manner,  wholly  erroneous.  The  Express 
train  did  much  to  save  us  from  the  same  falling  off  in  receipts 
last  year,  which  occurred,  almost  universally,  upon  all  roads 
in  the  country,  by  giving  us  some  through  travel,  and  by  af- 
fording greatly  increased  facility  to  way  travel;  so  that  our 
road  was  one  of  the  few  which  actually  increased  its  receipts 
in  "  the  panic  year.  " 

But  what  does  the  chairman  propose  ?  That  the  General 
Assembly  shall  pass  an  act  to  regulate  the  running  of  trains 
on  the  North-Carolina  Railroad,  or  appoint  him,  for  his  learn- 
ed chapter  thereon,  superintendent  of  transportation  on  the 
part  of  the  State.  What  a  commentary  on  railroad  policy  and 
management,  is  this  disquisition  of  the  chairman  !  That  diffi- 
cult thing,  which  has  engaged  the  thoughts  and  labor  and 
years  of  able  men  in  practice  and  study,  which  has  been  not 
often  successfully  accomplished  anywhere,  which  has  caused 
many  to  fail,  few  to  succeed,  this  whole  matter  is  mastered 
and  elucidated  by  reading  the  very  good  letter  of  our  former 
chief  engineer,  which,  I  am  sure,  he  never  expected  to  work 
such  a  wonder,  and  by  a  few  questions  and  estimates  in  a 
committee  room. 

Next  follows  his  remarks  on  the  only  loan  debt  of  the  road 
— the  eight  per  cent  bonds. 

This  was  sufficiently  explained  in  my  report  of  late  date, 
so  as  to  be  easily  understood  by  all  who  desire  to  understand 
it,  and  I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  to  repeat  what  was  then 
said.  The  chairman  can  see  this,  and  correct  a  common  mis- 
take referred  to  in  my  report,  that  upon  the  memorial  of  the 
board,  the  last  legislature  passed  an  act  "authorizing  the  di- 
rectors to  issue  bonds,"  &c.  It  seems  the  chairman  will  not 
know  the  tenor  of  this  act,  which  was  only  to  authorize  the 
rate  of  interest ;  the  authority  to  issue  bonds  being  granted 
by  the  charter.  He  can  learn  more  of  this  loan  matter  than 
he  seems  to  know  by  reviewing  my  report,  which  I  am  afraid 
his  labors  have  caused  him  to  neglect. 


19 

As  to  the  sinking  fund  therefor,  he  is  again,  as  usual,  mis- 
taken, in  thinking  he  discovers  matter  for  censure  of  me  in 
the  second  action  of  the  board  ;  these  bonds  were  some  time 
ago  set  apart,  but  not  registered,  which  is  the  last  order  of  the 
board. 

The  objections,  complaints,  and  observations  touching  this 
loan  are  so  manifestly  in  a  spirit  of  captious  fault-finding,  that 
I  let  them  pass  for  what  they  are — worth. 

The  next  subject  is— the  Company  Shops.  The  chairman,  like 
some  of  his  friends  on  the  line,  seems  to  be  rather  unamiably 
disposed  towards  this  place,  for  although  he  admits  its  value 
to  the  road,  and  does  not  exactly  censure  the  location,  he  says, 
"  We  do  not  find  that  Col.  Gwynn  or  any  other  engineer  re- 
commended the  town  which  must  necessarily  grow  up  around 
the  shops  for  the  residence  of  the  officers,  &c,  should  be  built 
up  by  the  Railroad  Company." 

Here  is  a  very  plain  issue.  The  fact  is  stated  in  my  late 
report  that  this  "  town  "  was  built  according  to  plans  on  file, 
approved,  adopted,  and  handed  to  me.  He  had  my  report, 
yet  he  makes  the  statement  above,  when  he  either  knew  or 
refused  to  know — which  he  pleases — the  facts,  that  the  plans 
and  estimates  for  every  building  at  the  company  shops,  except 
those  for  the  hotel  and  master  of  the  road,  and  for  the  store 
house  of  Messrs.  John  M.  Worth  c&  Co.,  were  prepared  under 
the  eye  of  the  chief  engineer,  Col.  Gwynn,  and  adopted.  I  have 
reduced  the  cost  on  some,  and  changed  the  plans  of  others, 
but  am  sorry  to  say,  cannot  claim  the  honor  of  the  plans  or 
location.  The  censure  of  the  chairman  and  his  friends  would 
have  very  little  terror  for  me  otherwise.  I  may  safely  chal- 
lenge him  to  go  to  this  place  and  point  out  one  unnecessary 
building.  He  very  well  knows  there  is  none  such.  He 
knows,  morevover,  that  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  work 
.has  been  done  under  contracts  made  by  the  board  of  directors 
and  chief  engineer  before  my  term,  and  the  balance  at  the 
same  rates.  He  knows  that  the  day  work  of  Dudley  &  Ash- 
ley, which  he  publishes  at  length,  was  done  under  contract 
made  by  Col.  Gwynn.  He  knows  that  the  day  and  "job" 
work  of  Jas.  Gr.  Moore,  which  he  publishes  at  length,  was 


20 

done  under  contract  made  with  Col.  Gwynn,  and  simply  con- 
tinued in  force  upon  the  same  terms.  He  knows  that  the 
heavy  brick  work  was  done  under  a  similar  contract  with  the 
chief  engineer,  by  order  of  the  board,  long  ago,  and  that  a 
considerable  part  of  the  estimates  of  Dudley  &  Ashley  was 
for  old  work  at  Goldsboro'  and  elsewhere  on  the  road. 

He  knows  these  things,  or  he  is  wilfully  ignorant.  I  could 
have  informed  him,  the  treasurer  could  have  informed  him, 
or  either  one  of  all  these  men  could  have  informed  him.  How 
then  does  he  stand  as  having  mis-stated  the  facts  ?  He  ex- 
travagantly lauds  the  chief  engineer  on  one  page ;  he  places 
his  heaviest  censure  on  his  conduct  upon  the  next. 

A  crooked  pathway  requires  circumspect  walking. 

The  chairman  recites  the  cases  of  men  who  have  done  work 
at  the  shops,  and  states  the  amounts  of  their  estimates,  but 
has  singularly  overlooked  one  of  the  largest  contractors  of 
them  all,  whose  work  was  perhaps  most  profitable.  His  near- 
est neighbors  too,  Messrs.  McKnight  and  Houston,  of  the  town 
of  Greensboro',  their  estimates  amount  in  the  aggregate  to 
$31,861  50.  They  did  good  work  and  received  good  pay,  and 
every  indulgence  and  liberal  treatment  at  my  hands.  Their 
omission  from  the  report  of  the  chairman  is  a  slight,  I  cannot 
silently  allow.     Let  justice  be  equal  to  all. 

The  chairman  refers  to  one  of  the  men  engaged  at  this 
place,  Jas.  G.  Moore,  in  terms  and  in  a  spirit  not  becoming 
his  position.  He  calls  Mr.  Moore  "  a  doer  of  odd  jobs  about 
the  shops."  Any  man  may  be  "  a  doer  of  odd  jobs  "  that  are 
clean  work,  without  reproach,  but  I  dare  say  the  chairman 
will  agree  with  me  in  opinion,  from  his  age  and  experience  of 
life,  that  the  doing  of  obb  jobs  is  often  very  hard  work — harder 
than  it  seems. 

I  must  say  a  few  words  in  defence  of  the  contracts  made 
with  Dudley  &  Ashley,  and  with  Jas.  G.  Moore,  by  the  chief 
engineer,  before  my  day;  that  they  were  carefully  looked 
into  by  me  and  found,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  just,  fair,  and 
expedient ;  that  with  Dudley  &  Ashley  was  for  framing  and 
putting  on  the  unusually  heavy  roofs  on  the  shop  buildings, 
and  the  actual  cost  was  less  than  any  contractor  would  have 


21 

bid  on  the  work  as  a  whole ;  in  fact,  very  few  mechanics  iu 
the  country  were  able  to  do  it  at  all,  as  it  was  a  work  requir- 
ing much  skill,  and  attended  with  much  expense  and  danger. 
The  estimates  to  these  men  on  the  house  work  were  made  ac- 
cording to  contract  with  them,  upon  regular  measurements 
by  square,  and  at  stipulated  prices,  which  show  for  themselves 
on  the  bills,  fully  as  low  as  such  work  can  be  had  for  in  the 
country,  and  the  whole,  not  only  constantly  observed  by  my- 
self in  its  progress  and  completion,  but  also  examined,  inspect- 
ed, measured  and  received,  regularly  and  very  carefully,  by 
a  master  mechanic,  having  more  knowledge  of  his  business 
than  any  engineer  could  have,  and  much  better  qualified  to 
do  this  than  the  chairman  has  shown  himself  to  be  to  examine 
and  report  on  Urn  The  chairman  shows  his  ignorance  in  talk- 
ing about  measurements  on  a  Railroad  by  "  disinterested  " 
men. 

The  rates  paid  to  Jas.  G.  Moore  on  his  estimates  made  and 
approved  by  the  chief  engineer  first,  and  approved  by  me  af- 
terwards, because  considered  right  and  fair,  have  been  set 
forth  as  enormously  extravagant.  If  the  chairman  had  ven- 
tured to  look  hack  beyond  my  term  he  would  have  found 
Moore's  estimates  there — and  he  wholly  forgets  that  the  chief 
engineer  was  in  office  up  to  January  10th,  1856. 

The  terms  of  Moore's  contract,  were  to  furnish  hands  for 
any  and  all  work  required  of  him — to  serve  in  the  shops,  on 
the  engines,  or  cars,  on  the  the  road,  or  in  any  other  capaci- 
ty— to  board  and  clothe  them,  to  lose  all  lost  time  of  bad 
weather  or  otherwise,  all  sick  time — and  to  be  solely  respon- 
sible for  them. 

Will  the  chairman  now  undertake  to  do  this  as  a  profitable 
undertaking?  If  so,  I  would  almost  venture  to  assure  him  a 
contract,  for  all  hands  upon  the  road,  as  long  as  he  pleases,  be- 
sides the  privileges  of  whatever  "  odd  jobs  "  may  be  required, 
with  a  guarantee  against  any  requsition  but  for  the  clean 
work. 

He  is  in  much  perplexity  for  the  contracts  of  all  these  men. 
This  was  my  business,  for  which  I  am  responsible  always.  Did 
he  ask  me  for  the  contracts  f  The  work  has  been  done,  and  no- 


body  of  all  the  grumblers  and  fault-finders  question  its  suffi- 
ciency. Let  him  point  out  a  defect  in  any  oi  all  the  work  ex- 
ecuted, passed  upon,  and  paid  for  by  me,  at  the  shops  or  on 
the  road. 

The  Hotel  at  the  Shops  is  a  prominent  feature  in  the  re- 
port of  the  chairman,  as  it  is  a  prominent  structure  on  the 
road,  alike  creditable,  handsome  and  useful.  He  seems  dis- 
satisfied with  its  cost.  I  should  have  been  better  pleased  my- 
self if  it  had  cost  less ;  but  in  all  my  experience  of  work,  pub- 
lic or  private,  I  have  never  yet  learned  the  secret  of  doing,  or 
having  it  done  for  less  than  it  is  worth.  If  the  order  of  the 
Board,  which  he  refers  to,  had  been  so  potent  as  to  enable  me 
to  make  competent  contractors  build  a  proper  house,  at  a 
certain  rate,  then  I  ought  to  be  held  responsible  for  not  do- 
ing it ;  but  if  the  Board  adopt  a  plan  and  order  it  to  be  car- 
ried out,  what  then  ?  It  could  only  be  done,  in  this  free 
country,  at  the  usual  rate  of  work. 

The  questions  then  are  :  1st.  Was  the  Hotel  needed  ?  Let 
us  enquire,  as  the  chairman  failed  to  do  so.  A  number  of 
passengers  leave  Columbia  at  7  P.  M.,  travel  all  night  and 
reach  the  shops  at  6  or  7,  A.  M.  Do  they  need  breakfast,  or  are 
they  to  proceed  to  Goldsboro,'  or  to  Weldon,  fasting  ?  In  like 
manner,  leaving  Weldon  or  Goldsboro'  at  12  or  1,  P.  M.,  they 
reach  the  shops  at  6  or  7,  P.  M.  Are  they  to  have  supper,  or 
to  go  to  Kingsville,  more  than  225  miles  farther,  fasting  !  So 
of  our  own  people,  for  dinner,  on  both  trains,  up  and  down, 
all  do  not  live  near  enough  to  eat  dinner  at  home,  and  all  do 
not  carry  their  dinners  along,  or  fast.  It  might  answer  very 
well  for  those  who  are  so  bitterly  against  this  indispensable 
structure,  to  get  along  by  such  shifts ;  but  the  great  traveling 
public  will  approve  no  such  niggardly  policy.  It  is  the  duty 
of  railroad  companies  to  accomodate,  and  it  is  their  interest  j 
only  a  short-sighted  narrow  policy  can  overlook  both  conside- 
rations. 

So  much  for  the  need,  of  the  Hotel :  now  for  its  plan.  This 
was  submitted  to  the  Board  and  adopted,  on  my  recommenda- 
tion, if  the  chairman  pleases  ;  I  am  not  ashamed  or  afraid  of 
it.     Does  he  find  the  house  too  large  ?  The  occupant  thinks  it 


23 


is  not  large  enough.  Is  it  extravagant  or  ornamental?  We 
thought  it  very  plain.  "Were  the  prices  high  for  the  building? 
They  were  exactly  at  the  rate  estimated  by  the  chief  engineer, 
throughout  construction,  for  work  done  in  brick  and  wood,  by 
the  square,  and  the  lumber  cost  less  than  was  paid  for  a  like 
quality. 

If  then,  the  Hotel  was  needed — if  it  is  a  good  plan — and  its 
cost  has  been  only  fair,  who  is  censurable  ?  or  for  what  is  the 
blame  ? 

I  need  not  tell  any  one,  who  has  ever  traveled  over  the 
road,  that  it  was  deplorably  needed — a  moral  as  well  as  phys- 
ical need — to  prevent  profane  remarks,  offensive  to  "  ears  po- 
lite, "  and  christian,  as  well  as  to  refresh  the  physical  exhaus- 
tion of  the  tired  traveler,  and  in  no  other  way  could  this  need 
be  supplied. 

The  chairman  has  exagerated  the  cost.  He  could  have  had 
it  by  proper  enquiry  and  examination.  He  does  not  ask  me, 
but  he  asks  Mr.  Fries,  and  he  publishes  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Fries,  of  his  recollections  touching  the  matter.  If  the  chair- 
man had  been  at  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders, 
(which,  of  course,  he  could  not  be,  as  he  is  no  stockholder)  he 
would  have  known  that  the  recollections  of  Mr.  Fries,  touching 
this,  and  other  matters  of  equal  importance,  on  the  road,  had 
proved  defective,  as  I  then  distinctly  showed,  and  am  ready 
to  show  again,  if  need  be.  Nobody  knew  better  than  Mr. 
Fries,  for  he  is  a  man  of  worldly  experience,  that  this  hotel 
was  needed  ;  and  he  was  therefore  in  favor  of  its  being  built. 
His  letter  contains  nothing  requiring  my  notice  in  terms,  ex- 
cept that  he  as  much  misconceived  my  tone  and  manner,  re- 
ferred to,  as  he  misapprehended  my  acts,  and  I  miscounted 
on  his  apparent  cordial  co-operation  in  them  last  year. 

The  chairman  says,  "  what  the  several  houses  at  the  shops 
cost,  your  committee  believe  no  one  can  tell.  "  The  chairman 
"believes  !"  How  can  he  properly  have  any  belief  without 
enquiring  to  learn  ?  And  1  again  say,  he  did  not  enquire  to 
learn,  but  to  censure.  As  to  the  cost  of  the  whole,  or  any  part 
of  the  shops  or  buildings,  of  whatever  kind,  it  is  easily  and 
accurately  determined,  from  bills  of  material,  and  from  esti- 
mates, which  are  well  known  data. 


24 

The  chairman  makes  a  discovery,  which  he  regards  of  ex- 
treme consequence,  as  to  the  date  of  entering  up  estimates  by 
the  book-keeper ;  and  he  says,  "  this  is  not  the  fault  of  the 
book-keeper,  but  of  the  President.  "  A  true  word,  sir,  in  this 
report  for  one,  in  so  far  as  it  applies  to  responsibility.  The 
President  ought  to  be  responsible  for  every  fault  and  omis- 
sion of  a  railroad.  The  chairman  forgot  to  add,  however,  that, 
in  the  opinion  ot  many,  he  has  no  credit  account.  An  act 
which  can  be  censured,  is  his  "  fault,"  no  act  which  can  be  ap- 
proved, is  to  his  honor.  JZas  the  chairman  found  one.  But 
as  to  this  "  fault.  "  It  has  been  my  habit  of  life,  very  much, 
to  attend  to  my  own  business,  and  to  take  all  needful  care  of 
the  same,  acccording  to  my  judgment,  as  far  as  possible.  Es- 
timates and  accounts  are  in  my  charge,  until  handed  to  the 
book-keeper  for  entry  ;  and  I  have  so  far  taken  safe  care  of 
them.  Payments  on  these  are  only  made  on  my  warrant,  as 
President,  and  it  is  not  for  the  Treasurer  or  any  subordinate 
to  look  behind  this  warrant.  I  have,  ;:p  to  the  present,  man- 
aged to  make  no  improper  payments,  according  to  the  very 
strict  auditing  of  the  Board,  and  auditing  committee,  and  have 
satisfied  these  as  to  the  manner  of  payments.  Has  the  chair- 
man found  any  wrong  ?     If  so  he  has  spared  me  its  exposure. 

The  chairman  gives  a  statement  of  Station  Agents'  accounts, 
showing  ballances  due  as  by  books.  At  the  first  time  of  his 
attendance,  (Jan.  4th.)  to  begin  this  examination,  I  strongly 
urgedhim  to  examine  carefully  our  system  of  Transportation 
account,  as  one  compiled  from  various  roads,  and  as  nearly  per- 
fect in  its  checks  and  balances  as  possible.  He  never  did  ex- 
ami?ie  it  at  all.  This,  by  far  the  most  important  department 
in  its  daily  uses,  to  save  all  or  lose  much — he  did  not  think  it 
worth  while  to  look  into  one  hour. 

In  this  department  we  might  lose,  any  month,  by  a  bad 
system,  more  than  he  deplores  as  lost  in  the  accounts  of  Mc- 
Rae,  Trolingcr,  Andrews,  in  rents  and  interest — but  in  this 
department  there  was  field  of  exploration  to  find  matter  to 
censure.  If  he  had  looked  into  this  he  would  have  seen  how 
it  is  (a  thing  every  year  requiring  long  explanations)  that  bal- 
ances appear  against  the   Station  Agents.     For  instance,  on 


25. 

31st  of  December,  each  Agent  (as  is  his  daily  duty)  sends  to 
the  Office  by  mail  train  his  return  of  freight  sent  to  every 
other  Agent,  and  it  is  all  charged  up  as  against  the  Agent  to 
whom  sent,  that  day  :  but  it  is  not  received  for  two  days  per- 
haps, by  the  Agent  charged  with  it,  and  certainly  is  not  tak- 
en from  his  warehouse  and  paid  for,  in  the  month  of  Decern- 
her.  It  stands  therefore  as  a  balance  appearing  against  him, 
on  the  1st  of  January — but  it  is  in  goods  not  delivered  from 
his  warehouse,  or  in  money  due  for  freights.  Such  a  show- 
ing is  unjust  and  very  ungenerous  towards  faithful  Agents, 
who  are  thus  made  to  appear  as  delinquents,  when  it  is  not 
so.  These  Agents  may  claim  to  be  at  least  as  honest  as  the 
Chairman. 

The  chairman  states  three  cases  where  Agents  are  in  default 
and  mis-states  all  of  them.  The  one  at  Goldsboro' will  be 
only  a  little  more  than  two  thousand,  not  over  five  thousand 
dollars,  as  he  represents — this  balance  he  promises  to  secure. 
The  one  at  Smithfield  was  an  appointment  of  a  former  term, 
and  the  loss  was  owing  to  uncollected  freights  at  his  death. 
The  one  at  Haw  River  is  in  suit,  and  the  former  Agent  is  con- 
sidered good  for  it.  As  regards  this  case  the  chairman  makes 
an  untrue  and  incorrect  statement  on  information  of  the  Trea- 
surer, he  says,  which  he  must  have  misunderstood,  as  the 
Treasurer  could  hardly  have  given  him  a  perverted  and  par- 
tial statement.  The  credit  to  this  Agent  for  account  of  Gen. 
Trollinger,  was  for  freights  of  lumber  delivered  to  the  Haw 
River  Company.  It  was  received  from  the  Agent  at  the  of- 
fice, not  on  his  leaving  as  is  stated,  but  some  time  before,  for 
collection  from  this  Company,  and  only  ascertained  to  have 
been  paid  by  them  to  Trollinger,  as  was  not  expected  by  me, 
some  time  afterwards.  I  neither  expect  nor  propose  that  the 
road  shall  lose  this.  As  to  the  bonds  of  Agents,  I  long  ago 
notified  the  Treasurer  that  it  was  his  duty  to  see  to  these 
bonds  ;  to  keep  them,  and  see  that  they  were  good,  to  take 
care  that  Agents  are  never  in  arrears,  and  to  notify  me  if  they 
failed  to  pay  up  regularly.  Whenever  he  has  done  so,  I  have 
immediately  required  from  them  prompt  accountability.  But 
the  receipts  of  this  road  have  been  over  a  million  of  dollars 


through  the  Agents.  The  default  of  payments  less  than  live 
thousand  dollars  to  this  date  in  five  years— the  actual  loss  so 
far  beyond  remedy  not  one  thousand  !  An  immense  loss  this  ! 

As  to  the  delinquent  stock,  about  which  he  is  troubled,  it  be- 
longs to  the  Treasury.  It  is  so  much  less  of  capital  invested 
— and  so  much  less  amount  than  the  four  millions  of  capital, 
upon  which  any  dividends  could  go  out.  The  Board  have 
always  considered  it  wiser  to  let  this  stand,  rather  than  sell  at 
a  sacrifice.  The  chairman  probably  thought  it  was  given 
away  to  the  original  subscribers.      This  was  a  mistake  of  his. 

The  chairman  refers  to  the  "  Western  North- Carolina  Rail- 
road" (he  calls  it  the  "  Western  Extension,")  in  a  way  that 
may  be  mortifying  to  that  Company.  The  Board  of  Direc- 
tors have  rather  considered  that  in  aiding  this  work  we  were 
directly  aiding  and  promoting  our  own  interest — and  they 
have  only  made  the  same  liberal  terms  for  frieghts  (of  con- 
struction— not  for  ordinary  frieghts)  with  them,  that  this  road 
received  from  foreign  corporations — in  the  course  of  its  con- 
struction. Our  payments  were  made  to  these  partly  in  stock  of 
the  Company:  this  road  pays  us  in  cash.  Its  progress  towards 
completion  will  largely  and  constantly  increase  our  receipts, 
and  so  much  is  it  identified  in  interest  as  to  be  called  an  "ex- 
tension "  of  our  road.  Can  the  chairman  see  in  this  no  rea- 
son for  liberal  dealing  towards  that  work? 

Only  one  other  point  of  the  chairman's  report,  I  shall  further 
notice,  and  this,  because  it  is  unfairly  made.  He  gives  an 
extract  from  the  report  of  the  finance  committee  in  July  last, 
and  he  omits  a  note  referring  to  it.  "When  this  report  was 
read  in  the  meeting,  I  asked  the  chairman,  Mr.  Kirkland,  if 
he  would  be  good  enough  to  explain  what  it  meant  definitely, 
as  it  sounded  somewhat  vaguely  as  well  as  harshly  to  my  ap- 
prehension. I  asked  if  the  committee  had  found  anything  in 
error?  he  said  nothing;  anything  wrong?  nothing.  Was  the 
transportation  system  more  important  than  all  else  on  the  road 
a  good  one  ?  he  said,  admirable  in  its  perfect  arrangements  of 
checks,  balances  and  books.  What  then  ?  why,  the  plain 
books  of  entry,  the  accounts  with  individuals,  these  only  were 
not  as  they  should  be.     Such  was  the  fact,  until  the  present 


27 

secretary  and  book-keeper,  with  great  labor,  brought  up  and 
regularly  entered  from  the  first  year  of  this  corporation,  cer- 
'tain  accounts.  I  found  no  account  of  liabilities  due,  listed  for 
reference  when  I  came  into  this  office,  none  was  then  kept 
as  now,  hence  the  impossibility  of  determining  the  old  in- 
debtedness until  it  was  presented  for  payment.  It  is  conclu- 
ded now  that  our  books  are  in  perfect  order,  as  I  believe  them 
to  be,  otherwise  the  chairman  would  have  referred  to  them  in 
his  report. 

lie  says  on  page  22,  "  ISTo  system  of  book-keeping  can  be 
adopted,  which  will  make  the  book-keeper's  balance  sheet 
show  the  truth,  if  the  treasurer  be  required  to  pay  on  the 
President's  warrant,  without  showing/br  what  this  warrant 
issued,  &c. " 

]STow  the  "  truth  "  is,  that  every  warrant  ever  issued  does 
show,  "for  what  this  warrant  issued,  "  in  express  terms,  and 
if  the  chairman  looked  at  a  single  warrant,  he  ought  to  know 
that  each  one  does  so. 

His  reference  to  the  condition  of  the  treasury  in  July,  1S55, 
and  his  remarks  thereupon,  I  do  not  consider  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  authorize  my  extending  this  already  very  long 
communication,  id  give  it  any  notice,  nor  his  attempted  re- 
view of  my  statements.  My  report  of  the  history,  affairs,  con- 
dition and  prospects  of  this  road,  ought  to  be  capable  of  sus- 
taining an  abler  review  than  the  chairman  has  made,  or  can 
make,  without  being  affected  thereby.  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  this  report  has  been  generally  satisfactory  to  the 
Legislature  and  to  the  public,  nor  do  I  apprehend  that  the 
report  of  the  chairman  can  disturb  this  satisfaction,  but  rather 
must,  by  its  character,  confirm  it. 

In  conclusion,  sir,  I  have  to  say  this,  that  standing  in  the 
position  of  a  state  official,  having  charge  of  her  most  impor- 
tant work,  I  have  been  arraigned  before  this  General  Assem- 
bly on  the  charge  of  incompetent  management  of  the  work 
entrusted  to  my  hands,  and  a  proposal  was  made  by  my  ene- 
mies to  proceed  upon  an  investigation.  Let  it  be  carefully 
noted,  1st.  The  charter  of  this  corporation  gives  no  authority 
to  the  .Legislature  to  make  any  such  inquisition.  2nd.  The  char- 


ter  does  provide  that  the  interest  of  the  State  shall  he  well 
guarded  by  her  representatives  in  the  Board  of  Directors,  ap- 
pointed by  the  board  of  Internal  Improvements.  This  being 
so,  I  might  have  said  to  the  proposal  to  examine,  made  by 
those  who  I  might  have  suspected  did  not  intend  to  examine 
fully  and  fairly.  You  are  exceeding  your  jurisdiction,  the 
charter  gives  you  no  such  authority,  look  to  the  reports  of  the 
State's  men,  if  you  wish  to  see  its  condition.  But,  sir,  I  said 
no  such  thing.  On  the  contrary,  strong  in  the  consciousness 
of  a  condition  which  we  most  desired  to  have  made  public, 
knowing  our  acts  to  have  been  faithful  and  proper,  I  said  for 
the  board  and  for  myself,  without  hesitation.  We  waive  all 
question  of  jurisdiction,  we  shall  be  best  gratified  by  your  pro- 
posed enquiry,  here  are  our  papers,  books  and  men,  they  are 
at  your  command,  examine  what  you  please  and  as  you  please, 
only  let  it  be  impartial,  fair  and  honest. 

The  oath  directed  by  the  law  to  be  administered  on  all  oc- 
casions of  inquisition,  is,  "  to  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth, 
and  nothing  but  the  truth,  "  to  state  the  facts,  to  suppress 
nothing,  and  to  state  only  known  facts. 

I  simply  ask,  has  this  been  done,  by  the  showing  of  the 
chairman's  own  report  ?  He  himself  calls  it  an  "  imperfect 
report,  "  and  pleads  lack  of  time.  He  begins  his  labors, 
where  ?  at  the  beginning  ?  by  no  means.  He  begins  after 
more  than  two  thirds  of  the  work  is  built,  after  almost  all  is 
contracted  for,  with  the  first  act  of  mine,  as  he  thinks,  capable 
of  being  censured,  and  what,  let  any  just  man  say,  is  the  spirit 
and  tenor  of  that  report  shown  in  every  page  ? — To  arraign  and 
to  censure  my  management.  He  proceeds  to  "  examine  "  the 
affairs  of  this  corporation,  as  he  would  take  an  account,  as 
commissioner  appointed  by  a  County  Court  of  a  country  store 
co-partnership.  In  a  work  of  millions,  he  seeks  to  show  ex- 
travagance and  bad  management  in  petty  transactions,  which 
possibly  may  seem  in  his  view,  very  important,  but  will  look 
to  fair  minded  men  very  small,  not  only  in  their  real  conse- 
quence, but  far  more  in  the  fact,  that  only  by  such  examples, 
out  of  a  great  work  of  millions,  can  he  find  material  for  his 
report. 


29 

Even  these  trifles  I  have  in  this  communication  fully  ex- 
plained. 

The  chairman  has  studiously  avoided  addressing  to  me  any 
enquiries.  He  has  asked  questions  from  the  subordinates 
touching  matters  best  known  to  me,  as  Chief  in  authority. 
Could  he  thus  obtain  the  fullest  information  ?  He  has  cen- 
sured me  for  work  done,  plans  adopted,  and  contracts  made, 
before  my  term.  Why  ?  Because  not  examining  (if  he  did 
not  examine)  the  papers  on  tile,  he  has  taken  for  granted, — this 
fair,  impartial,  just  inquisitor — that  whatever  was  wrong,  was 
my  act — whatever  was  right,  the  act  of  some  one  else. 

Is  this  my  allegation  only  ? — see  his  Report — see  the  con- 
tracts of  the  men  at  the  shops ;  all  made  by  Col.  Gwynn, 
originally,  and  for  the  kind  of  work  he  most  censures,  all 
charged  to  me  because  he  considered  them  as  affording  mat- 
ter for his  Report. 

Would  not  any  man  of  just  purpose  have  been  glad  to  see 
an  exhibit  such  as  my  Report  has  made,  for  information  :  the 
Legislature  and  the  people  have  been  glad  to  see  it,  and  what 
is  far  more  unsatisfactory  to  the  chairman,  they  have  been 
satisfied  with  it,  in  advance  of  his  report : — but  the  chairman 
is  inclined  to  be  severe  in  referring  to  it;  he  calls  it  "  a  report 
not  authorized  by  the  directors,  so  far  as  their  journal  shows, 
nor  provided  for  in  the  charter  and  by-laws  of  the  company, 
which  has  so  much  delayed  our  enquiries."  This  is  very  se- 
vere on  my  "  Report  Extraordinary,"  which  I  flattered  myself 
the  chairman  might  read,  digest,  and  at  least  not  condemn, 
in  such  unqualified  terms. 

The  chairman,  sir,  has  been  very  hard  to  please  or  to  satis- 
fy. He  commences  by  proposing  in  his  place  a  proceeding 
not  warranted  by  the  act  of  incorporation,  as  he  states  in  his 
first  letter  to  me ;  he  proposes  in  the  midst  of  his  duties  as  a 
legislator,  for  a  few  weeks,  to  undertake  the  herculean  labor 
of  investigating  the  affairs  of  a  large  corporation  through  nine 
years  of  its  existence  !  An  absurd  impossibility !  For  it 
might  be  questioned  by  some,  if  he  could  do  it  in  nine  or 
twelve  months.  Being  allowed  by  courtesy  of  its  authorities 
to  proceed  as  he  pleases  in  this  adventure,  he  rapidly   grows 


arrogant ;  takes  "  the  papers  and  books  into  possession"  and 
the  men  into  custody. ;  grants  "  leave  of  absence"  and  "orders" 
attendance  at  his  pleasure.  But  not  satisfied  with  this,  in 
which  he  is  indulged  as  harmless  flourishing  in  the  way  of 
"  brief  authority,"  he  applies  to  the  Senate  for  still  further 
power — this  already  potential  Chairman — "to  send  for  per- 
sons and  papers,  and  to  examine  under  oath,"  although  he 
had,  sir,  I  pray  you  to  mark,  all  he  required  of  both,  which 
we  could  give,  freely  subject  to  his  commands;  thus,  by  this 
application,  casting  upon  us,  through  the  grave  avenue  of 
legislative  action,  an  imputation  of  having  withheld  what  he 
required  for  his  enquiry,  and  an  insinuation  that  serious  dif- 
ficuties  had  occurred.  He  asks  for  information  only  from  sub- 
ordinates, wholly  ignoring  the  aid  or  existence  of  the  ( liief 
Officer  ;  he  refuses  to  this  official  the  use  of  his  records ;  he 
complains,  first,  because  a  forthcoming  report  is  too  long  de- 
layed, then  he  impolitely  slurs  that  report  when  it  is  issued 
and  does  not  exactly  suit  his  uses,  as  "  unauthorized  ;"  he 
greatly  lau.qs  the  chief  engineer  of  construction,  and  he  great- 
ly censures  his  acts ;  he  thinks,  upon  the  whole,  rather  well 
of  the  company's  shops,  but  he  objects  to  the  houses ;  he  be- 
comes soon  learned  in  the  arts  of  railroad  management,  and 
condemns  emphatically  our  running  of  trains  ;  he  finds  the 
train  we  thought  our  best  and  most  profitable  one  is  sinking 
us  so  much  per  month  that  it  is  fortunate  for  the  road  receipts 
he  did  not  figure  out  the  other  train  ;  he  proves  to  his  own 
satisfaction  that  there  ought  to  be  a  large  surplus  in  the  trea- 
sury :  we  have  thought  ourselves  doing  very  well  to  be  out  of 
debt  and  to  have  a  small  one.  Finally,  drawing  his  labors  to 
a  close,  he  apparently  relents  from  his  stern  character  of  pros- 
ecutor on  the  part  of  the  State,  so  far  unwaveringly  maintain- 
ed, and  for  a  moment,  "  the  quality  of  mercy"  allows — "  that 
in  the  'management  of  so  extensive  a  road,  the  most  vigilant 
and  judicious  administration  might  commit  errors  y"  but  he 
concludes  with  this  verdict — "  that  this  road  has  been  badly 
managed  by  the  President  and  Directors."  How? — "In  the 
particulars  which  we  have  been  able  to  examine,  in  the  time 
and  under  the  circumstances,  herein  set  forth.  In  many  im- 
portant particulars,  we  hr~e  made  no  examination." 


31 

I  give  the  chairman  the  full  benefit  of  whatever  publicity 
this  paper  may  confer  on  his  "  conclusion  " — because  I  intend 
to  make  a  witness  of  him,  and  he  shall  not  have  to  say  that  I 
suppressed  any  portion  of  his  "conclusion." 

My  respect,  sir,  for  your  honorable  body,  would  not  allow 
me  to  speak  harshly  of  the  chairman  or  of  his  report — even 
if  I  was  disposed  to  do  so,  or  deemed  it  worth  while.  I  have 
referred  to  the  document  as  the  chairman's  report,  and  I  shall 
state  here,  what  I  have  a  right  to  say,  and  what  will  not  be 
denied — that  of  the  signers,  the  senatorial  associate  has  given 
very  occasional  attendance  on  any  meetings,  and  very  little 
aid  in  any  enquiry.  I  state  further  that  rarely  in  any  meet- 
ing of  the  committee  has  there  been  a  general  attendance. 
Of  course,  therefore,  it  has  been  signed  on  the  faith  of  the 
chairman's  enquiries. 

But  sir,  what,  after  all,  has  been  the  value  and  the  effect  of 
this  examination — to  the  Legislature  or  to  the  State  ?  Does 
the  report  give  you  the  cost  of  the  road  in  figures  ?  -  Not  at 
all.  Does  it  give  you,  for  general  information,  any  account  of 
its  business  in  the  past,  and  its  prospects  in  the  future — de- 
finitely %  None  whatever.  Is  there  a  single  specification  of 
mismanagement  shown,  in  bad  policy — neglect  of  duty — 
danger  to  life,  or  loss  of  property  ?  Not  one.  Is  a  single  in- 
accuracy or  mis-statement  shown  in  my  reports?  Not  one. 
It  is  altogether  made  up  of  very  small  things — full  of  mis- 
statements, which  I  have  corrected — full  of  errors,  which  I 
have  exposed — and  bears  upon  every  page  a  manifest  spirit 
of  censure — almost  but  not  altogether  throughout,  for  the 
closing  page  makes  a  full  amende  ! 

Shall  I  then  be  at  trouble  to  defend  mj'self,  and  to  denounce 
the  chairman  !  By  no  means.  He  is  entitled  to  my  best  ac- 
knowledgements. I  return  him  publicly  my  tJianhs.  His 
examination  has  been  of  immense  value  to  this  much  abused 
public  work,  about  which  absolutely  nothing  was  known  or 
understood  heretofore,  in  directing  public  attentien  to  its  con- 
dition, and  in  causing  that  general  interest  to  be  felt  in  the  read- 
ing of  its  Ileport,  which  was  never  felt  before.  He  has  done 
more  than  this.  I  call  the  chairman  as  my  witnesp  He  shall 
defend  me  against  all  enemies.     Hear  him : 


"  Your  committee  believe,  from  the  report  of  Col.  Gwynn,  oil 
leaving  the  road,  sustained  by  repeated  reports  of  the  President 
and  Directors,  since  that  date,  that  the  road  was  cheaply  con- 
structed, and  its  future  prospects,  if  well,  and  economically  man- 
aged, are  highly  encouraging." 

This  is  the  result  of  his  labors,  very  satisfactory  to  me,  and 
surely  to  all  concerned.     This  is  his  opinion,  at  last,  of  ray 
much  censured,  "badly  managed"   work.      "Cheaply   con- 
structed" with  "future 'prospects"  that  are  "highly  encouraging" 
I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Yery  respectfully, 

Your  ob't  servant, 

CHAS.  F.  FISHER. 


APPENDIX. 


February  18,  1859. 

The  foregoing  communication  was  sent  to  be  delivered  to 
the  Speaker  of  the  Senate  on  Tuesday,  but  did  not  reach  him 
till  Wednesday  morning;  it  was,  I  presume,  then  overlooked, 
until  after  the  morning  hour. 

The  adjournment  was  fixed  for  Thursday  morning,  early. 
Of  course,  therefore,  it  was  necessary  that  it  should  be  heard 
after  the  morning  hour,  or  not  at  all.  When  it  was  proposed 
to  take  up  this  communication  in  the  evening,  the  motion  was 
bitterly  opposed  as  out  of  order,  and  several  hours  were  con- 
sumed in  an  attempt  to  talk  it  down.  Seeing  the  intention  to 
do  this,  I  requested  my  friends,  as  a  personal  favor  to  me,  to 
withdraw  the  paper,  as  the  opposition  to  its  being  received 
and  read  showed  a  determined  intent  to  cut  me  off  from  any 
hearing,  and  to  consume  the  remainder  of  the  session  in  op- 
posing it ;  but  then  its  withdrawal  was  objected  to  by  the 
same  persons  who  had  opposed  its  being  received,  and  it  was, 
therefore,  ordered  to  be  read,  and  the  reading  commenced. 

The  clerk  had  proceeded  as  far  as  on  the  third  page,  to  this 
sentence — "  A  courtesy,  as  appeared  later,  which  the  chair- 
man was  not  able  to  appreciate  " — when  the  reading  was  in- 
terrupted by  the  most  violent  language  and  action  of  the  Sen- 
ators from  Orange  and  Johnston,  Messrs.  Turner  and  Leach, 
and  the  paper  objected  to  as  disrespectful  to  the  Senate — 
most  proper  guardians  of  its  dignity,  these  persons,  who  were 
then  disgracing  themselves  and  insulting  that  body  ! 

Such  was  their  conduct  and  language,  that  the  reading,  be- 
ing of  necessity,  suspended,  an  irregular  discussion  followed^ 


2 

(near  the  hour  of  eleven  o*clock  at  night,)  which  seemed  likely 
to  last  to  the  end  of  the  session,  when,  seeing  the  determina- 
tion of  these  and  other  Senators  to  suppress  this  hearing  and 
printing,  although  even  at  the  cost  of  every  hour  left,  and 
seeing  the  large  amount  of  private  and  public  business  yet 
unfinished  and  waiting  action  in  the  bills  covering  the  Speak- 
ers table,  I  again  earnestly  begged  my  friends  to  withdraw 
the  communication,  as  I  could  not  consent  to  this  defeat  of 
public  and  private  bills  and  waste  of  precious  time,  for  any 
reason,  and  would  rather  suffer  the  outrage  than  allow  all  leg- 
islative action  to  be  obstructed,  on  so  much  remaining  to  be 
done,  when  the  last  hours  of  the  session  were  rapidly  drawing 
near.  After  much  opposition  in  motions  to  adjourn,  the  mo- 
tion to  allow  the  withdrawal  was  carried. 

The  Senator  from  Orange  pretended  to  propose  a  resolu- 
tion, which  he  said  was  for  receiving  this  paper,  early  in  the 
evening,  after  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from  New  Hanover 
to  receive  it. 

His  object  was  well  understood  to  be  insidious,  and  wholly 
for  effect. 

What  has  been  the  course  of  this  whole  proceeding,  will 
appear  by  a  brief  review: 

Early  in  the  Session,  a  Senator  proposes  in  his  place  to 
raise  a  committee  to  examine  into  the  affairs  and  condition  of 
a  State  Work — and  the  committee  is  appointed.  Some  weeks 
elapse,  and  the  Chairman  writes  to  the  Chief  Officer  of  this 
work  a  letter  in  which  he  says  : 

"  We  give  you  this  early  notice,  ~becau.se  %oe  are  aware  that 
your  Charter  contains  no' provision  authorizing  the  General 
Assembly  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  your  Company"  &c. 

My  reply  to  this  letter  was  a  prompt  assent  to  their  propos- 
ed enquiry,  and  whether  or  not  there  was  law  or  right,  I 
willingly  waived  the  question  of  both  law  and  right,  and 
placed  all  material  at  the  command  of  the  committee  for  its 
use — papers,  books,  men,  officers.  I  offered  ray  own  aid,  and 
invited  its  free  use.  I  asked  the  committee  to  go  with  me  to 
the  Company  Shops  and  see  for  themselves.  They  proceed 
in  an  examination  of  papers,   books,   and  men  for  weeks,  as 


they  please.  They  "  take  into  possession"  and  into  custody—* 
they  assume  authority  as  if  by  law,  not  by  courtesy,  and  ex- 
ercise it  arrogantly  and  offensively.  All  this  usurpation  is 
submitted  to.  The  labor  is  closed,  and  a  Bill  of  Indictment 
is  preferred,  as  its  result,  containing  statements  false,  perver- 
ted and  virulent  ;  bearing  on  every  page  the  impress  of  a  bad 
and  censorious  spirit;  showing  what  the  law  describes  as 
"  malice  aforethought." 

Having  been  thus,  without  warrant  of  law,  brought  into 
the  Senate  Chamber,  arraigned,  tried  and  censured  on  an  ex 
parte  hearing  and  statement,  I  am,  in  the  opinion  of  the  hon- 
ti&ahle  and  just  judges,  who  are  prepared  to  " punish  first, 
and  try  afterwards" — to  be  ordered  to  depart  in  silence :  no 
reply  can  be  made  by  "  an  outsider"  (this  was  their  refined 
term)  before  this  sacred  jurisdiction,  to  false  charges — bu - 
they  must  go  forth  unanswered,  as  if  the  truth !  Well  might 
an  honorable  and  distinguished  Senator  ask  if  the  Senate  of 
North-Carolina  was  to  be  converted  into  a  "  Star  Chamber" 

It  was  all  right,  in  the  view  of  these  highly  honorable  and 
just  senatorial  judges,  for  a  Legislative  Chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee to  proceed  on  an  unauthorized  investigation,  upon  ex 
parte  evidence,  to  suppress  the  truth,  to  pervert  plain  trans- 
actions, to  receive  secret  information,  not  given  under  oath, 
to  seek  whatever  is  capable  of  being  turned  to  censure,  to 
find  nothing  whatever  in  a  term  of  years  to  approve,  to  make 
out  a  prosecutor's  report  defamatory  of  character — and  then 
come  to  publish  it  under  the  sacred  protection  of  the  Senate, 
and  no  man  shall  dare  to  say  it  is  false,  or  he  is  committing 
an  outrage  on  the  chamber  and  body  ! 

The  report  of  this  chairman  is  far  too  contemptible  in  char- 
acter and  in  substance  to  require  even  the  notice  I  have  given 
it  in  my  reply,  which,  in  terms,  is  respectful  to  the  Senate  and 
mild  for  its  deserts  ;  but  1  was  required  to  answer,  because 
otherwise  it  would  go  forth  as  truth,  to  mislead  the  unsus- 
pecting and  to  serve  the  unscrupulous,  and  having  to  reply,  it 
was  necessary,  to  call  what  is  false,  properly.  Since,  however, 
this  respectful  reply  has  been  lefused  a  just  hearing,  I  intend, 
on  my  responsibility,  to  characterize  the  whole  proceeding  as 


4 


it'deserves,  without  claiming  any  protection  of  "  privilege/' 
For  what  is  said. 

The  effort  will  be  made  by  those  who  disgraced  themselves 
and  insulted  the  dignity  of  the  Senate  by  their  violent  con- 
duct in  this  matter,  to  give  the  whole  affair  a  party  coloring, 
and  so  shield  themselves  from  public  indignation,  by  exciting 
par,ty  prejudice  and  protection.  They  shall  not  do  this. 
The  unsuspecting  honest  are  too  often  so  misled  by  dema- 
gogues. I  refer  to  the  facts.  The  Legislature  was  largely 
Democratic  in  majority.  Did  this  majority  interpose  its  shield 
over  me  ?  Did  any  voice  object  to  this  proposed  examination  ? 
Did  Democratic  speakers  constitute  the  Committees  with  any 
special  favor  to  me  ?  Only  in  the  last  scene  of  this  proceed- 
ing was  I  sustained  by  Democratic  men, — because,  first, 
they  were  my  personal  friends,  and  just  men;  and,  secondly, 
the  proceeding  was  then  only  made  to  assume  a  partisan  as- 
pect to  protect  an  unjust  action.  Forme,  the  Democratic  men 
of  the  Legislature  have  done  all  I  asked  of  them,  and  this  all 
was  to  propose  and  vote  to  give  my  reply  a  fair  hearing. 
where  the  false  charges  were  alledged — that  is,  the  simple  jus- 
tice the  law  always  secures  even  to  the  humblest.  Beyond 
this  justice,  I  have  asked  from  the  Democratic  majority  noth- 
ing whatever.  Nor  do  I  now  ask  anything.  I  place  myself 
under  a  better  defence  than  any  political  majority  can  give. 
Under  the  defence  of  truth,  justice  and  my  own  acts.  Not 
as  a  partisan  was  I  placed  in  charge  of  this  State  work ;  not 
as  such  have  I  controlled  and  directed  its  power  and  patronage. 

This  conspiracy  to  defame  my  administration  of  the  work, 
has  been  suggested  as  well  by  Democratic  knaves  as  by  oth- 
ers. These  are  known  to  me — their  malice,  their  vindic- 
tiveness  and  their  cowardly  acts.  They  gave  the  chairman 
false   suggestions  and   aided   his   inquisitions. 


If  he 


secret 

thinks  proper  to  go  farther,  rnd  will  give  me  "authority  to 
send  for  persons  and  papers  and  to  examine  under  oath"  I 
will  prove  what  is  here  said — and  more.  He  and  they  shall 
have  as  much  of  it  as  they  please.  And  I  promise  all  these, 
of  whatever  degree,  that  their  malignity  shall  defeat  itself.  I 
will  try,  as  in  the  past,  to  meet  them  always  more  than  half 
way,  not  at  all  doubting,  as  in  this  past,  my  ability  to  cover 
them  with  confusion  by  the  plain  words  of  truth. 

CHAS.  F.  FISHER. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00042071391 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


C 


Fnrm  Nn    A.3RR    Roi/    fi/QR 


